The trial of the alleged leader of an organized criminal group (OCG) from Orsk, Sergei Korchagin, and a resident of Orenburg, Vasily Savvon, has begun in the Orenburg Regional Court. The case is heard by a jury. Depending on the role and degree of participation in the crimes, the defendants are accused of occupying the highest position in the criminal hierarchy, murder, attempted murder and illegal acquisition, possession of firearms and ammunition. The defendants plead not guilty. Their property was seized for a total amount of more than 12.5 million rubles.
The prosecutor’s office of the Orenburg region approved the indictment in the case at the beginning of the year. Depending on the role and degree of participation in crimes, the defendants are charged with Art. 210.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (occupation of the highest position in the criminal hierarchy), part 2 of Art. 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (murder), part 3 of Art. 30 and part 2 of Art. 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (attempted murder), part 1 of Art. 222 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (illicit trafficking in weapons and ammunition).
According to the investigation, from 1993 to 2021, Sergei Korchagin occupied “the highest position in the criminal hierarchy, having the highest criminal status” in the Orenburg region.
He “appointed ‘watchers’, including among convicts serving sentences in correctional facilities in the region,” law enforcement officials say.
From April 2000 to July 2008, the alleged leader of the organized criminal group organized the murder of three crime bosses, as well as the assassination of seven more people, security officials believe. This happened due to conflicts related to the division of spheres of influence in the criminal environment.
So, in May 2000, according to the Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia (Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation) for the Orenburg region, Sergei Korchagin ordered the murder of a crime boss from Orsk, nicknamed Abkhazian (we are talking about Gennady Khvatlandzia). The accused hired the alleged perpetrators of the crime from the Kazan organized crime group, who specialized in murders, the security forces found out. The killer killed the Abkhaz on May 19, 2000 with a pistol, the case says. This episode of the crime was imputed to the alleged head of the organized crime group in August last year.
Sergei Korchagin was detained during a special operation at an airport near Moscow in December 2021. At the same time, the security forces detained two of his alleged accomplices in Orsk. They were charged with organizing the murders of crime bosses in the Orenburg region during the redistribution of spheres of influence in 2005-2008.
Investigators found that the alleged perpetrators with automatic weapons and explosive devices made three attempts on the victims. As a result, two people died and two were injured. These crimes remained unsolved for more than 15 years.
In particular, on the night of October 25, 2005, the killer shot about 20 times from a Kalashnikov assault rifle at two victims in Orsk, who were in a car. As a result, one of the men died, the second, who received six wounds, was saved by doctors. Another murder of a resident of Orsk was organized by the alleged leader of the organized crime group in June 2006. The perpetrators of the crime set up an explosive device near the autodrome in the village of Myasokombinat and set it off at the moment the victim’s car was moving. However, the victim survived – the car was armored. In July 2008, a killer killed a resident of Orsk by firing a short-barreled firearm. The crime was committed on a flight of stairs at the entrance of the victim’s house.
The alleged leader of the organized crime group, the case says, also “illegally acquired and stored firearms at his place of residence – the Scorpion submachine gun,” the investigation established.
Investigators have established that Sergei Korchagin (Korchaga) since 2008 has been “watching” the Orenburg region: he appointed members of the criminal community to informal positions in the criminal environment in Orsk, Novotroitsk, Gai, Buzuluk and correctional institutions of the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Orenburg Region to monitor compliance with “thieves’ traditions ”, was responsible for the “common fund” and resolved disputes.
Earlier, the regional Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that the criminal community under his leadership oversaw the illegal circulation of weapons, drugs, was engaged in “extortion,” protection “of business, fraud in the financial and credit sphere and other types of criminal activity.”
According to the security forces, the second defendant, Vasily Savvon, in the period from 2005 to 2006, as part of an organized group of Sergei Korchagin, “committed the murder and attempted murder of four people.”
At the court session, Sergei Korchagin and Vasily Savvon pleaded not guilty. In particular, Sergei Korchagin said that the case was “fabricated.”